U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) delivers remarks during a news conference on gun safety reforms beside a picture of a type of gun and ammo clip used in the Aurora, Colorado shooting, on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. in this July photo.Michael Reynolds/EPA

Several federal lawmakers from New Jersey have joined President Obama's call for "meaningful action" on gun safety following the Friday shooting that killed 20 first graders in Connecticut and left eight adults dead, including the 20-year-old shooter and his mother.

“It’s time that we do more than hold candlelight vigils to honor the lives that have been lost from guns and take action to stem gun violence,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th District), said in a statement following the shooting.

Pallone's district includes Old Bridge, where in August a 23-year-old former U.S. Marine shot and killed two coworkers at a Pathmark supermarket before killing himself.

Pallone's statement Friday afternoon followed President Obama’s emotional call for action to cut through the politics of gun control in the wake of the Friday morning shooting. Obama, who was scheduled to be in Newtown today to meet with victims’ families, did not specify what kind of action he meant.

In his statement on Friday, Pallone said: “It seems that more and more frequently we are reacting to mass shootings, from the tragic movie theater shooting in Aurora, CO, to one that happened in my district, at an Old Bridge, NJ supermarket in August.” He added, “We need to have a real conversation about how we get guns off of our streets and enact meaningful, sensible gun control laws.”

The shooter was identified as Adam Lanza, 20, of Newtown, Conn. High school classmates said they believed he had a mental disorder, possibly Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism. In his statement, Pallone also called for a review of mental health processes “to determine the best ways to identify and treat these dangerous mental illnesses.”

Investigators found at least three guns at the shooting scene— a Glock pistol and a Sig Sauer pistol inside the school and a .223-caliber rifle in the back of a car, according to law enforcement sources who spoke to the Associated Press. Lanza was too young to own guns under Connecticut state law. But his mother, Nancy Lanza, had legally registered four weapons and his father legally owned two weapons, according to the Associated Press. A spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, would not confirm whether the guns used Friday were registered to Nancy Lanza, who was found dead in her home on Friday.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) issued a statement criticizing opponents of tighter gun control laws along with passive lawmakers cowed by them.

“Americans are sick and tired of these attacks on our children and neighbors and they are sick and tired of nothing being done in Washington to stop the bloodshed,” Lautenberg stated. “If we do not take action to address gun violence, shooting tragedies like this will continue.”

Lautenberg is a sponsor of pending legislation to renew a national assault weapons ban and to ban high-capacity gun ammunition magazines. He wrote the 1996 law that denies people convicted of domestic violence the right to carry a gun.

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8th District), issued a statement saying, “We must find time to reflect on how we can prevent senseless gun violence like this from reoccurring.”

“The first step is to have a serious discussion on how to reduce gun violence in our communities,” Pascrell said.

New Jersey’s last mass shooting was on the morning of Aug. 31, when Terence Tyler walked off the job at a Pathmark on Route 9 in Old Bridge, then returned dressed in Marine Corps-issued desert fatigues and carrying an assault-style semi-automatic rifle. Tyler shot and killed two coworkers, 18-year-old Cristina LoBrutto and 24-year-old Bryan Breen, before shooting himself.